Erotomania (Killing Stalking fanfic)*DISCONTINUED*

Chapter 20

Hye paced across the polished floors of the police station, frustrated. When Bum hadn’t shown up for work, for the first time, she’d been worried of course, but figured that the man was just sick, or something. He’ll be back tomorrow. But then, he didn’t show up. Days turned into a week. The police had been little help since then.  A week turned into two, and then to three. No leads whatsoever. Hye slumped back down into her chair, her foot tapping with endless energy.  

An officer finally entered the vicinity, sitting down at his computer and sipping coffee nonchalantly from a mug. Hye sprung from seat.

“Excuse me, officer.”

The man in question glanced up at her, uninterested.

“How may I help you, ma’am?”

“I filed a missing persons report a few weeks ago, and I wanted to see if you had any leads?”

He glanced up from his computer.

“And what’s the name of the person you reported missing?”

“Yoon Bum.”

“Give me a moment please.”

It took the officer a few moments to find what he was looking for in the computer, but Hye couldn’t keep still, drumming her fingers on the counter. She could feel sweat collecting on her palms, her heart palpitating, a wild, uneven beat. What’s taking him so long? Was it normal for the police to take their time like this?

Finally, he seemed to have found what he was looking for.

“Ah, here it is. Unfortunately, we don’t have any leads right now. Very sorry,” he said, though the phrase seemed empty and unsympathetic.

“You don’t have any leads yet?” Hye asked, fighting to keep her temper at bay.

“Look, ma’am. We have lots of cases to deal with. We’ll let you know if we find anything. Okay?”

It was clearly a dismissal. The officer left before she could get another word in. Hye wondered if the police were even looking. She left the station, unaware of the extra pair of eyes that had been watching the exchange.

Sangwoo never told Bum what he did with the girl’s body, and he was glad. He only hoped that she was disposed of humanely. Well, as humanely as someone could be after being murdered.

Bum’s fear of Sangwoo was renewed after that night, not like it had ever went away, but Bum was becoming accustomed to the monotony of domestic life. He was better at hiding his fear whenever Sangwoo touched him, had grown used to curling up in a corner of Sangwoo’s room with a book in his hands. After a while, the blind terror had been hidden under the surface. Now, it had been brought to life again. Bum kept a sizable distance from Sangwoo, or tried to anyways. He never let the other man touch him, no matter how gentle he was.

The following days, Bum was so tense, so stressed, it was a wonder he hadn’t gone completely gray.

He’d taken up cooking and cleaning the areas of the house that he could reach, yet the activity did nothing to calm him, especially since Sangwoo never took his eyes off him.

“We should go on a date,” Sangwoo said one day.

Bum ceased chopping the vegetables that would be going into their dinner.

“A date?”

“Yeah. I take you to eat somewhere, then…”

Sangwoo paused, taking the opportunity to wrap Bum in his arms, hugging him from behind.